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The  Coming  of  Yale 
College  to  New  Haven 


Williston   Walker 


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THE    UNIVERSITY 

OF    CALIFORNIA 


FROM  THE  FUND 

ESTABLISHED  AT  YALE 

IN  1927  BY 

WILLIAM  H.  CROCKER 

OF  THE  CLASS  OF  1882 

SHEFFIELD  SCIENTIFIC  SCHOOL 

YALE  UNIVERSITY 


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■I 


THE  COMING  OF  YALE  COLLEGE 
TO  NEW  HAVEN 


An    Historical    Address    at   the 
Commemoration  of  the 
Two  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Removal 
OF  the  Collegiate  School  of  Con- 
necticut TO  New  Haven 
October  21,  1916 


»"  » 


*  *  >  • 


Bt 


PROFESSOR  WILLISTON  WALKER 


New  Haven 

Yale  University  Press 

mdccccxvii 


LD(b335    I 
\N3        I 


■.  .• :  I .; ;  :  "'^f^  ^  .f»MtUM. 


Copyright,  1917 


•  •    «t**.»c'*''      '    /c  By  Yale  University  Press 
Published,  January,  1917 


THE  COMING  OF  YALE  COLLEGE 
TO  NEW  HAVEN 

By  WILLISTON   WALKER 

NO  commemoration  could  be  more  significant  in  the  civic 
and  intellectual  life  of  our  community  than  that  in 
which  we  engage  today.  The  city  and  the  University  which 
now  celebrate  two  completed  centuries  of  helpful  associa- 
tion, alike  rejoice  in  this  long  relationship,  and  each 
felicitates  the  other  that  a  union  which  has  been  productive 
of  such  advantages  in  the  past,  is  so  cherished  in  the 
present,  and  so  auspicious  for  the  futur^.  Jt.i^  the^privije^e. 
of  the  present  speaker  to  recall  briefly  some  ^oi  the-  circiiaa^ 
stances  which  brought  New  HaveU  ap.d .  Ytilfe'  iotO'^  ijh^; 
inseparable  relationship,  not  without  strilggiti  and^  over-- 
coming  of  obstacles  that  seemed  at  times  to  imperil  what 
we  all  now  regard  as  a  cardinal  achievement  in  our  city's 
history. 

Gathered  in  this  chapel  this  morning,  it  requires  a  tre- 
mendous effort  of  the  imagination  to  picture  the  New  Haven 
and  the  Yale  of  two  centuries  ago.  The  Green,  then  an 
almost  treeless  and  unfenced  expanse,  was  at  once  the 
market  place,  the  seat  of  the  one  house  of  worship,  the 
site  of  the  prison,  and  the  common  burial  ground  of  the 
community.  Around  it,  or  stretching  from  it  in  a  ragged 
line  to  the  harbor,  were  the  low  wooden  houses,  sheltering 
a  village  of  less  than  a  thousand  inhabitants.  Agriculture 
was  the  prevailing  interest,  though  commerce  was  repre- 
sented by  a  few  small  vessels  trading  with  Boston  and  New 
York  and  occasionally  venturing  to  the  West  Indies.  New 
Haven  was  small,  remote  from  the  great  stream  of  the 
world's  life,  a  petty  town  in  a  little  colony,  of  scanty 
resources  in  all  save  men  of  character  and  ambition.  These 
men  were  far-seeing  enough  to  determine  that  New  Haven 

646588 


[  2] 

should  have  a  College,  and  fortunate  enough  to  bring  that 
determination  to  practical  fruition  two  hundred  years  ago. 
The  dream  of  a  College  in  New  Haven  was  a  vision  which 
had  early  risen  before  the  minds  of  the  founders.  Rev. 
John  Davenport,  its  chief  spiritual  leader,  had  urged  such 
a  foundation,  probably  as  early  as  1645,  when  New  Haven 
was  but  in  its  infancy,  in  words  prophetic  of  what  Yale 
was  to  be,  though  used  in  this  instance  regarding  the  free 
school  which  was  the  immediate  object  of  discussion.  He 
would  have  a  College :  ''for  the  better  trayning  upp  of  youth 
in  this  town,  that  through  God's  blessing,  they  may  be 
fitted  for  publique  service  hereafter,  either  in  church  or 
commonweale. "  Nor  was  Davenport  without  support  in 
this  endeavor.  The  town  of  New  Haven,  as  early  as  1648, 
set  aside  land  on  what  is  now  Elm  Street,  near  the  present 
.ITetKjple  Str8j3t,.^  a  site  for  the  desired  seat  of  learning. 
Foui*  years  raier,'eti(3,eavors  were  made  to  enlist  the  aid  of 
,  jtlie;©t5i€rr;tf>^^  .of  the  little  New  Haven  Colony  in  the 
*•  iiiidertakin^. '  "In  16^5,  the  General  Court  of  the  New 
Haven  commonwealth  had  reason  to  believe  that  New 
Haven,  besides  its  promised  land,  would  contribute  £300 
for  the  foundation  of  a  College,  and  that  the  other  towns 
of  the  New  Haven  jurisdiction  would  raise  the  sum  to  £540. 
A  few  months  later,  Davenport  was  soliciting  the  assistance 
of  that  generous  friend  of  education,  Governor  Edward 
Hopkins,  of  the  Connecticut  Colony,  then  returned  to  Eng- 
land,— a  man  to  whose  liberality  this  community  owes  its 
venerable  and  useful  Grammar  School.  Certainly  New 
Haven's  desire  for  a  College  was  strong  from  the  beginning 
of  the  colony,  and  its  leading  men  were  laboring  to  bring 
their  vision  to  realization. 

All  these  early  hopes  were  dashed,  however,  by  the  crisis 
in  the  economic  and  political  fortunes  of  New  Haven  which 
came  to  a  head  in  the  seventh  decade  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Beyond  any  other  New  England  colony,  it  was 
the  fortune  of  New  Haven  to  be  tested  by  disappointment 
and  disaster.  Begun  largely  by  London  people,  of  business 
training  and  commercial  rather  than  agricultural  ambi- 


[  3  ] 

tions,  it  was  the  hope  of  the  founders  to  plant  here  a  trading 
and  manufacturing  community.  To  this  ambition  we  owe 
the  four-square  planning  of  the  older  center  of  the  city, 
and  its  notable  Green,  designed  as  a  market  place  and  for 
the  gathering  of  assemblies.  New  Haven  was  in  due  time 
to  become  what  the  founders  wished.  It  was  to  have  its 
manufactures  and  its  trade  in  abundance;  but  that  could 
not  be  till  long  after  the  wilderness  had  been  subdued  and 
the  forests  of  New  England  and  New  York  had  given  place 
to  civilized  life. 

The  founders  speedily  discovered  that  their  hopes  of  a 
commercial  emporium  were  vain.  The  loss  of  the  large 
vessel  that  they  had  had  freighted  for  England  with  such 
wares  as  they  could  muster  in  1646, — the  so-called  Phantom 
Ship, — was  a  staggering  industrial  blow.  Matters  commer- 
cial went  from  bad  to  worse.  Then  came  the  Stuart  Resto- 
ration, in  1660,  and  with  it  an  unfavorable  change  in 
attitude  on  the  part  of  the  English  rulers  towards  the 
colony,  culminating  in  the  union  of  New  Haven  with  Con- 
necticut, accomplished  in  1665.  However  necessary  and 
fruitful  for  good  that  association  now  appears  to  us,  it  was 
bitterly  resented  by  our  New  Haven  predecessors  at  the 
time.  It  was  regarded  as  a  final  blow  to  their  cherished 
plans,  and  it  led,  three  years  later,  to  the  departure  from 
New  Haven  of  John  Davenport.  A  sober,  weakened  com- 
munity was  left,  and  the  ambitious  thought  of  a  College 
passed  away,  for  the  time,  with  a  fading  of  so  many  other 
hopes  that  had  shone  brightly  in  more  prosperous  days. 

Yet,  though  cast  down.  New  Haven  was  not  destroyed. 
It  gradually  grew  in  strength.  "With  the  coming  of  young 
James  Pierpont,  in  1684,  to  the  pastorate  of  its  only  church, 
it  had  once  more  a  spiritual  leader  of  civic  and  intellectual 
vision.  Important  as  were  to  be  his  services  in  the  founding 
of  Yale,  no  one  man  could  do  the  work  alone.  Other  leaders 
of  the  colony  sjnnpathized.  The  advice  of  certain  men 
prominent  in  Massachusetts,  and  more  or  less  critical  of 
existing  tendencies  at  Harvard,  was  sought.  The  first  ses- 
sion of  the  legislature  in  New  Haven,  as  one  of  the  two 


[4] 

capitals  of  the  colony,  was  deemed  an  appropriate  occasion 
to  solicit  governmental  approval;  and  thus  the  College 
came  into  being  in  October,  1701.  The  wish  of  the  founders 
of  New  Haven  was  at  last  realized  in  part,  at  least.  The 
College  was  a  reality,  though  it  was  not  yet  established  in 
New  Haven. 

That  settlement  in  this  city  was  only  to  be  the  result  of  a 
long  controversy  and  of  much  effort  on  the  part  of  those 
who  favored  New  Haven  as  the  site  of  the  College.  At  their 
first  meeting,  on  November  11,  1701,  the  Trustees  of  the 
newly  constituted  institution  determined  on  Saybrook  as 
its  location.  The  reasons  for  this  decision  are  not  recorded 
beyond  the  consideration  ' '  that  so  all  parts  of  Connecticut 
Colony  with  the  neighboring  Colony  may  be  best  accomo- 
dated"; but  the  conjecture  is  natural  that  the  selection 
was  a  compromise.  The  Connecticut  river  was  still  a  usual 
route  of  travel.  Saybrook  was  at  its  mouth,  and  accessible 
to  those  who  came  by  water  from  the  towns  which  looked 
to  Hartford  as  their  natural  center  and  from  those  of 
western  Massachusetts;  while  it  could  be  reached  easily 
from  those  stretching  along  the  coast  from  Stamford  to 
New  London.  Aside  from  this  centrality  of  location  for  a 
collegiate  enterprise  that  now  included  all  the  Colony  of 
Connecticut,  Saybrook  had,  however,  little  to  offer;  and 
the  business  superiority  of  New  Haven,  from  the  first,  was 
attested  by  the  choice,  from  1702  onward,  when  a  Saybrook 
man  resigned  or  failed  to  qualify,  of  residents  of  New 
Haven  as  treasurers  of  the  growing  enterprise. 

Saybrook,  also,  proved  unsatisfactory  from  a  scholastic 
point  of  view.  The  first  Eector,  or  President,  of  the  Col- 
lege, Rev.  Abraham  Pierson,  of  what  was  then  known  as 
Killingworth,  but  is  now  our  neighboring  town  of  Clinton, 
could  not  be  persuaded  to  remove  thither  from  his  comfort- 
able parish,  and,  till  his  death,  in  March,  1707,  the  College 
was  housed  under  his  hospitable  roof,  in  spite  of  the  con- 
stant objections  of  his  parishioners  that  the  care  of  students 
was  robbing  them  of  pastoral  services  justly  their  due.  On 
the  demise  of  the  first  Rector,  Rev.  Samuel  Andrew  of  Mil- 


[  5  ] 

ford  was  chosen  his  successor, — an  appointment  apparently 
intentionally  temporary,  though  it  was  to  continue  till  1719. 
Some  students  had  their  training  under  the  new  Rector, 
who  did  not  leave  his  Milford  parish  save  for  Commence- 
ments in  Saybrook.  Others  studied  in  Saybrook  under 
successive  tutors.  The  College  lacked  any  adequate  build- 
ing that  it  could  call  its  home.  So  matters  drifted  along  in 
a  thoroughly  unsatisfactory  condition. 

The  College,  however,  was  securing  important  friends. 
Aroused  by  the  vigorous  James  Pierpont,  Trustee,  and 
minister  in  New  Haven,  the  indefatigable  Jeremy  Dummer, 
who  had  become  the  London  agent  of  Connecticut  in  1712, 
was  soliciting  gifts  in  England,  the  first  results  of  which 
were  received  in  1714,  in  the  shape  of  a  Library  of  more 
than  seven  hundred  well-chosen  volumes.  This  gift  brought 
to  fresh  consideration  the  question  of  a  suitable  building 
for  the  College,  and  unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  to 
secure  an  appropriation  from  the  legislature  in  October, 
1714,  and  May,  1715,  for  the  erection  of  such  a  structure 
in  Saybrook.  The  problem  of  adequate  provision  for  the 
College  was  evidently  becoming  more  apparent  to  the  public 
consciousness. 

Meanwhile  there  had  appeared  an  unexpected  prospect  of 
funds  in  the  colonial  treasury.  The  protracted  dispute 
with  Massachusetts  as  to  the  northern  boundary  of  Connec- 
ticut had  resulted  in  a  new  survey,  by  which  Massachusetts' 
encroachments  had  been  demonstrated,  and  that  reluctant 
colony  was  about  to  compensate  Connecticut  by  equivalent 
lands.  At  its  session  in  October,  1715,  the  Connecticut 
legislature  therefore  ordered  that,  from  the  amount  to 
come  from  the  sale  of  these  lands,  £500  should  be  appro- 
priated for  a  suitable  building  for  the  College.  With  the 
means  in  prospect,  at  least  to  begin  the  work,  the  question 
of  the  site  of  the  College  now  became  immediately  acute. 
It  was  now  embittered  by  the  fact  that,  though  the  existing 
Saybrook  location  aroused  wide  criticism,  and  nowhere 
more  than  in  the  student  body  itself,  Hartford  was  vigor- 
ously awaking,  under  the  leadership  of  the  ministers  of  its 


[  6  ] 

two  older  churches,  both  Trustees  of  the  College,  Timothy 
Woodbridge  and  Thomas  Buckingham,  to  the  possibility  of 
having  the  College  located  in  its  vicinity.  Already  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  students  had  gathered  in  Wethers- 
field,  and  were  enjoying  the  unauthorized  teaching  of  a 
young  Harvard  graduate,  Elisha  Williams,  who,  ten  years 
later,  was  to  become  the  ablest  of  the  early  presidents  of 
Yale.  The  question  of  location  had  now  become  a  three- 
cornered  fight,  in  which  Saybrook,  Hartford,  and  New 
Haven  each  had  its  partisans ;  and  New  Haven  had  lost  one 
of  its  strongest  supporters  through  the  death,  in  November, 
1714,  of  its  minister-trustee.  Rev.  James  Pierpont. 

Each  of  the  three  parties  now  appealed  to  its  public  for 
subscriptions.  The  friends  of  Saybrook  were  able  to  secure 
pledges  of  £1200  to  £1400.  Hartford  was  more  ready  with 
claims  and  protestations  than  with  promises  of  cash ;  while 
New  Haven  and  its  vicinity  largely  contributed  to  the 
ultimate  decision  by  a  prospect  of  gifts  totalling  from  £1500 
to  £2000,  and  grants  of  land.  Under  these  circumstances, 
the  corporation  of  the  College,  met  in  Saybrook  on  Septem- 
ber 12,  1716,  voted  five  to  two  that,  if  a  change  of  location 
should  be  made.  New  Haven  was  more  desirable  than  Hart- 
ford. Assembled  again  in  New  Haven,  on  October  17,  1716, 
it  voted,  in  the  same  numbers,  in  favor  of  the  permanent 
establishment  of  the  College  in  New  Haven.  From  that 
decision  the  Corporation  never  receded;  and  it  constitutes 
the  event  which  we  commemorate  today. 

Though  the  Corporation  had  settled  upon  New  Haven, 
the  struggle  was  by  no  means  closed.  The  Hartford  town- 
meeting  in  December,  1716,  instructed  its  representatives 
in  the  legislature  to  protest  against  the  New  Haven  location 
and  to  ask  that  body  to  fix  the  site.  It  had  something  to 
say  for  its  contention,  for,  since  the  founding  of  the  College, 
a  majority  of  its  students  had  come  from  Hartford  and 
New  London  counties.  Meanwhile,  the  rival  school  in 
Wethersfield  continued,  and  may  even  be  said  to  have 
flourished.  The  event  proved,  however,  that  the  decision 
had  been  made.    A  lot  was  bought  by  the  Corporation  in 


[  7  ] 

September,  1717,  about  an  acre  and  a  quarter  in  extent, 
where  Osborn  Hall  now  stands,  as  a  site  for  the  College 
building.  The  purchase  was  made  from  the  New  Haven 
church,  now  the  Center  Church,  and  the  price  was  so 
nominal  as  to  amount  to  a  donation. 

Hartford  still  objected.  While  the  commencement  of 
1717  saw  four  graduates  at  New  Haven,  a  degree  was  con- 
ferred on  a  similar  candidate  on  a  parallel  occasion  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Hartford  Trustee,  Rev.  Timothy 
Woodbridge,  in  Wethersfield.  The  New  Haven  party  had 
won  a  strong  supporter,  however,  in  the  person  of  the 
forceful,  dominant  governor,  Gurdon  Saltonstall  of  New 
London,  the  only  man  in  Connecticut  history  ever  trans- 
lated directly  from  the  pulpit  to  the  office  of  chief  executive. 
His  aid  was  soon  potent.  Nor  was  the  Corporation  neglect- 
ing the  advantages  which  come  from  possession.  A  build- 
ing committee  had  been  appointed  in  1716.  Governor 
Saltonstall  had  been  asked  to  aid  in  the  architectural  plans, 
and,  on  October  8,  1717, — only  twelve  days  after  the  com- 
pletion of  the  purchase  of  the  site, — the  frame  of  the  build- 
ing was  raised  under  the  supervision  of  Henry  Caner,  who 
had  been  summoned  from  Boston  as  head-carpenter. 
Certainly,  once  New  Haven  had  been  determined  upon, 
there  was  no  unnecessary  delay. 

It  was  well  that  building  was  in  progress,  for,  under  the 
influence  of  protests  by  the  friends  of  Hartford,  the  Cor- 
poration was  summoned  by  the  legislature  to  justify  its 
action  six  days  after  the  frame  of  the  collegiate  building 
had  been  raised.  Both  sides  presented  memorials  advocat- 
ing their  claims.  The  lower  house  proposed  to  ''split  the 
difference''  by  fixing  upon  Middletown  as  the  site  of  the 
College.  The  upper  house,  under  the  sway  of  Governor 
Saltonstall,  held  that  the  Corporation  had  power  to  decide 
the  location.  A  joint  debate  of  the  contestants  was  now 
held,  on  October  26, 1717,  before  both  houses  of  the  General 
Assembly,  as  a  result  of  which  the  lower  house  changed  its 
attitude,  and  by  a  vote  of  thirty-six  to  thirty  concurred  in 
the  New  Haven  site.    Yet  the  fight  was  not  over^  for  at  the 


[  8  ] 

session  of  May,  1718,  the  scarcely  convinced  lower  house 
voted  that  the  appropriation  granted  from  the  colonial 
treasury  be  divided  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  their 
students  between  instructors  in  Wethersfield,  Saybrook  and 
New  Haven,  and  that  commencements  be  held  alternately 
in  Wethersfield  and  New  Haven.  The  disapproval  of  the 
upper  house  prevented  this  compromise  recommendation 
from  becoming  a  law.  Yet  the  Wethersfield  rival  school 
continued,  and  five  of  the  thirteen  graduates  of  1718  there 
received  their  degrees. 

Meanwhile  an  event  had  occurred  which  not  only  con- 
firmed all  that  had  thus  far  been  done  in  New  Haven,  but 
was  to  give  a  name  to  the  infant  College.  In  January,  1718, 
a  persuasive  letter  written  by  Rev.  Cotton  Mather  of 
Boston,  perhaps  instigated  from  Connecticut,  but  probably 
on  his  own  initiative,  had  gone  to  Governor  Elihu  Yale  in 
London,  bespeaking  his  assistance.  The  career  of  that  chief 
early  benefactor  of  the  College  is  familiar.  Born  in  New 
England,  and  connected  with  New  Haven,  he  had  made  a 
fortune  in  India,  and  won  the  title  of  Governor  of  Madras. 
Since  1699,  he  had  been  living  in  retirement  in  England. 
He  had  already  shown  his  interest  in  the  infant  College  by 
a  gift  of  books,  secured  by  Jeremy  Dummer,  in  1713.  Dum- 
mer  now  added  personal  entreaties  to  Mather's  letter. 
Yale 's  response  was  prompt^  if  not  excessive  in  view  of  his 
large  fortune.  At  the  Commencement  of  1718,  announce- 
ment was  made  that,  in  addition  to  a  portrait  of  King 
George  I,  and  a  collection  of  books,  there  had  been  received 
from  him  in  Boston  a  quantity  of  goods  of  value.  When 
sold  later,  they  realized  £562/12.  Thus  established,  at  least 
in  prospect,  the  name  Yale  College  was  given  to  the  build- 
ing which  was  the  center  of  so  many  New  Haven  hopes. 
It  became,  at  the  same  time,  the  designation  of  the  whole 
institution. 

By  October,  1718,  Yale  College  was  ready  for  occupancy. 
A  strange-looking  structure  it  must  have  been,  yet  not  with- 
out a  certain  stateliness  as  became  the  most  elaborate  edifice 
of  which  New  Haven,  two  hundred  years  ago,  could  boast. 


[  9] 

About  one  hundred  and  seventy  feet  in  length,  it  was  only 
twenty-two  feet  broad,  and  its  three  stories  were  crowned 
with  a  high-pitched  roof.  Within  was  a  combined  dining 
hall  and  chapel,  a  library  room,  and  quarters  for  sixty-six 
students.  A  kitchen  projected  from  the  side,  prolonging 
the  building  towards  the  rear. 

The  legislature,  at  its  autumn  session  in  1718,  sought  to 
heal  ill  feelings  engendered  by  the  strife  as  to  location. 
£50  were  voted  as  an  aid  to  public  instruction  in  Saybrook, 
and  £500  for  the  erection  of  a  State  House  in  Hartford, — 
not  the  only  time  in  Connecticut  history  that  Hartford  has 
experienced  the  satisfaction  of  a  generous  provision  for 
housing  the  authorities  of  the  commonwealth.  Yet  these 
donations  had  not  the  desired  soothing  effect.  Saybrook 
forcibly  resisted  the  removal  of  such  portion  of  the  College 
library  as  had  been  there  housed  and  only  a  damaged  part 
was  secured  by  the  aid  of  the  county  sheriff.  The  resistance 
of  the  disaffected  Hartford  element  was  more  ambitious. 
That  town  chose  as  its  representatives  to  the  legislature  of 
1719  its  two  disaffected  trustees,  the  pastors  of  its  two  older 
churches,  Timothy  Woodbridge  and  Thomas  Buckingham. 
The  opponents  of  the  New  Haven  location  of  the  College,  in 
Hartford  and  elsewhere,  attempted  the  defeat  of  Sal  ton- 
stall  for  governor,  thus  to  terminate  the  influential  support 
that  he  had  given  to  New  Haven's  claims.  It  was  in  vain. 
Saltonstall  was  triumphantly  reelected,  while  Woodbridge 
was  faced  by  charges  of  defamation  of  the  governor  and 
council  before  the  lower  house.  The  contest  was  over.  New 
Haven  was  permanently  in  possession  of  Yale. 

From  the  beginning  of  its  settlement  here  Yale  College 
became  an  important  factor  in  New  Haven  life.  Indeed,  it 
may  be  questioned  whether  its  numerical  impact  on  the 
community  was  not  greater,  as  far  as  the  student  body  is 
concerned,  than  at  present.  To  equal  the  proportion  of 
about  sixty  students  in  a  village  of  possibly  a  thousand 
inhabitants,  such  as  obtained  very  speedily  after  Yale  was 
established  in  New  Haven,  the  student  body  of  today,  as 
estimated  on  the  present  basis  of  population  in  this  city, 


[  10  ] 

would  have  to  number  nearly  nine  thousand  members.  In- 
fluence is  not  to  be  weighed  in  numbers,  but  such  a  calcula- 
tion has  at  least  the  significance  that  Yale,  from  the  first, 
had  its  weighty  share  in  this  community,  if  regarded  merely 
from  the  numerical  point  of  view. 

Numbers  are,  however,  the  least  of  the  factors  which 
Yale  has  contributed  to  New  Haven  life.  It  has  been  worth 
infinitely  much  to  this  community  that,  added  to  its  busi- 
ness enterprise,  and  to  all  the  forces  that  have  made  so 
steadily  for  its  material  advancement,  it  has  been  for  two 
centuries  a  center  of  strenuous  intellectual  life.  Such  a 
presence  as  that  of  Yale  in  New  Haven  has  rendered  the 
name  of  the  city  known,  in  other  connections  than  those  of 
commerce  and  manufacture,  not  merely  throughout  the 
country,  but  throughout  the  world.  It  has  given  the  city 
a  zest  and  a  flavor  of  life  unusual  among  municipalities 
on  this  continent.  It  has  made  New  Haven  a  more  delight- 
ful place  in  which  to  live.  It  has  attracted  here  men  of 
learning  and  of  intellectual  tastes  whom  the  city  has  been 
glad  to  welcome.  It  has  helped  many  a  son  of  New  Haven 
on  the  path  to  conspicuous  ''Publick  employment/'  as  the 
original  charter  of  Yale  puts  it,  "both  in  Church  &  Civil 
State." 

While  New  Haven  has,  therefore,  never  been  unmindful 
of  the  advantages  which  the  fathers  sought  in  struggling, 
as  we  have  seen,  for  the  location  of  Yale  in  this  city,  and 
Yale,  in  its  turn,  has  reason  to  be  profoundly  grateful  for 
two  centuries  of  New  Haven's  civic  hospitality,  it  is  pleas- 
ant to  observe  that  the  relations  between  the  city  and  its 
chief  institution  of  learning  were  never  more  cordial  than 
at  the  present.  This  noble  civic  and  academic  celebration, 
in  which  all  elements  of  our  common  municipal  life  have  a 
share,  is  sufficient  evidence  of  mutual  regard,  and  of  pride 
in  a  common  heritage.  Yet  while  New  Haven  has  always 
had  occasion  to  feel  satisfaction  in  the  event  of  two  cen- 
turies ago,  the  relations  of  town  and  University  have  not 
always  been  as  cordial  as  they  now  are.  The  attitude  of  the 
College  in  the  religious  discussions  which  distracted  this 


[  11  ] 

community  in  the  eighteenth  century  was  not  one  that  com- 
mended it  to  all  our  citizens.  Its  political  and  religious 
conservatism  caused  some  friction  in  the  early  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Sixty  years  ago,  town  and  gown  dis- 
putes, now  almost  inconceivable,  more  than  once  disturbed 
the  peace  of  our  streets.  The  contrast  between  the  scholas- 
tic and  the  commercial  ideals  of  life  has  sometimes  been 
more  sharply  drawn  than  is  wise  or  just.  Yet  these  have 
been  but  the  relatively  slight  asperities  of  associates,  the 
city  and  the  University,  that  have  been  really  indispensable 
to  each  other.  It  is  a  satisfaction  to  note  that  these  illustra- 
tions have  to  be  drawn  from  ancient  story.  The  recent 
history  of  Yale  and  of  New  Haven  has  been  one  of  constant 
increase  of  good  feeling,  of  mutual  helpfulness  and  of  pride 
in  each  other's  achievements.  Never  were  Yale  and  New 
Haven  more  at  one  than  they  are  today. 

So  today  as  we  commemorate  the  two  himdredth  anniver- 
sary of  the  settlement  of  Yale  in  New  Haven,  it  is  with 
gratitude  toward  those  who  in  the  days  of  small  things 
made  this  union  possible.  They  had  their  abundant  per- 
plexities, their  contests,  their  discouragements.  But  they 
had,  also,  an  unconquerable  faith,  and  a  courage  adequate 
to  their  needs.  They  builded  weU,  and  we  have  entered 
into  the  fruit  of  their  labors.  Nor  can  we  forget  the  noble 
succession  which  for  two  centuries,  in  city  and  in  Univer- 
sity, has  carried  on  their  work,  building  fairer  and  nobler 
year  by  year,  till  we  have  the  New  Haven  and  the  Yale  in 
which  we  now  rejoice.  What  the  future  may  have  in  store 
none  may  know;  but  of  this  we  may  be  assured,  that  Yale 
and  New  Haven  will  continue  in  inseparable  connection,  in 
growing  helpfulness  each  to  other,  and  in  increasing  appre- 
ciation of  the  common  advantages  of  their  association. 
May  the  memories  of  the  last  two  hundred  years  be  perpet- 
uated and  strengthened  in  the  association  and  growth  of 
Yale  and  New  Haven  for  generations  to  come ! 


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— ^SQ^'SS' 


LD  21-100m-7,'39(402s 


6465S8 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


